The document provides strategies for unlocking the real value of social media and connected customers. It discusses that social media tools are not business strategies on their own. It then outlines 5 tangible strategies: [1] Listen to online conversations; [2] Talk and provide valuable content; [3] Support customers through social media customer service; [4] Energize brand advocates; and [5] Embrace customer feedback to improve products. The presentation aims to show how these strategies can help businesses move from just acquiring fans to achieving real business goals through an engaged social community.
Sales & Marketing Alignment: How to Synergize for Success
Social media, beyond the hype
1. Social Media,
beyond the hype.
A presentation on what social media really is, and tangible strategies that brands
and organisations can apply.
Joakim Nilsson
@joakimnilsson
2. FACT:
Today we’ve so many new shiny
things to play with... But Facebook
and Twitter are just tools, they
are not business strategies.
3.
4. Please meet Johnny. He’s been
doing social media for 6 months
now, and he says it’s not working.
5. Peak of inflated expectations (Johnny is here)
Media visibillity
Plateau of productivity (Johnny wants to go here)
Time/Business value
6. I took him a side, I wanted to
show how Social Media tools &
technologies disrupted the
purchase funnel...
8. Today’s purchase funnel
CUSTOMERS
Customers now have a voice to share their
experiences of products and brands.
9. Welcome the Empowered customer
CUSTOMERS
Socially connected customers influence the buying
intentions of other customers and prospects.
10. He looks enlighted!
But my BIG
question to Johnny
was around his
objectives for Social
Media...
11. Facebook fans are good, but they are
not business goals
TO GET MORE
FACEBOOK
FANS!?
BUSINESS
GOALS
OBJECTIVES
STRATEGIES
PROGRAMS
12. Social Media programs starts with
real Business Objectives
MARKET
LEADERS IN
YOUR INDUSTRY?
BUSINESS
MAKE MONEY, GOALS
REDUCE COSTS &
ENHANCE THE
BRAND? OBJECTIVES
EARNING FACEBOOK
FANS SITS HERE!
STRATEGIES
PROGRAMS
13. 5 tangible strategies for unlocking
the real value of social media and
connected customers
1. LISTEN 2. TALK 3. SUPPORT 4. ENERGIZE 5. EMBRACE
15. What do we mean with ”Listen”?
• Monitor the social web and understand what
people say about:
– Your company name
– Your products
– Your competition
– Your industry?
• Identify on which online platforms they are:
– Web forums?
– Twitter?
– Facebook?
– Youtube?
18. Use ”talk” to provide value
• Create content that your customers and
prospects wants
– How can you create value for your
customers/prospects?
– What are their passions and interests?
– What makes them look good?
– Do they trust you, or should someone else speak
for you?
22. Support
• One of the best applications of Listen & Talk is
to create customer service outreach
– Stepping in to discussions and solving problems in
public often exceeds those of you customers
expectations
– Can you get customers to help other customers?
– Makes you prepared in case of an crisis
23. AT&T proved the value of customer
service outreach
• Measured nine financial and relationship
impacts. These values include:
– Call shed, Customer retention, Customer
influence, Site referrals, CSAT, SLA, Early Warning
Radar, Facebook Wall Advocates and Twitter
Followers.
24. Rosetta Stone’s Success Central
The ultimate mission of the Rosetta Stone Customer Success team is simple: To provide
an easy and fun way to socially engage our learners; encouraging happy usage in their
language program.
28. Energize
• Empower your customers and prospects to
spread the word
– Who are your net promoters, the customers most
likely to speak positively about you?
– What can you do to make them speak for you?
• Campaigns
• Incentives
• Web site features
• Shared values & causes
32. Embrace
• Foster advocasy and leverage on customers
feedback
– How can you use your socially connected
customer/prospect base to:
• Test new products
• Give feedback
• Come with new product ideas
• Tell you what’s broken and needs to be fixed
The question often posed to social media practitioners by senior executives is: what's the ROI of Social Media? Here's how AT&T quantified the impact of leveraging social media for customer service.In summer of 2009, AT&T made the decision to address negative sentiment and unresolved customer service issues on the social web. And in just one year, the newly formed AT&T Customer Care Social Media team resolved 21,000 customer issues on various social channels and earned positive sentiment as well as a flood of direct customer feedback through Twitter and Facebook that validated their efforts.Despite impressive results, Senior Leaders still questioned the ROI of Social Media for Customer Service. Normally in a customer service operation, the ROI is avoidance of an expensive customer contact; but there was additional value generated by the Customer Care Social Media Team. What the executives were really asking is "what is the value back to the AT&T brand?" The team along with strategic partner Ant's Eye View created an ROI framework that measured nine financial and relationship impacts. These values include: call shed, customer retention, customer influence, site referrals, CSAT, SLA, Early Warning Radar, Facebook Wall Advocates and Twitter Followers. With these measures in place, AT&T was able to show that social media is, indeed, good for business operations. In 2010, 21,000 customer issues were resolved and more than 37,500 customers were served by the AT&T Customer Cares Social Media Team. By leveraging the ROI framework, AT&T executives received concrete numbers for Social Media Customer Service ROI, as well as additional points of value being generated. Ultimately, these measurements provided a business case for future investment, staffing of AT&T's social media operations and goal setting for the team.
http://groundswelldiscussion.com/groundswell/awards2011/detail.php?id=681The ultimate mission of the Rosetta Stone Customer Success team is simple: To provide an easy and fun way to socially engage our learners; encouraging happy usage in their language program. We recognize that the mission is met by meeting learners on their turf and by providing fast, simple and proactive support solutions. We knew that our existing self-service support portal was not meeting those needs. We revamped and created "Success Central" - a user-friendly and effective online support experience. With a support center that engages our customers in a social atmosphere we are strengthening the relationship with our learning community. Success Central is poised to help us further cultivate 1:1 relationships with our learners in a scalable way, promote our awesome product and the people delivering it. Success supports across all channels, giving our language learners the ability to meet with us where they want; making it easier for learners to engage and help themselves.Since the launch of the newly enhanced support center, visits to the portal have increased by more than 50%; with higher percentages of learners helping themselves in the portal rather than using it solely as a contact reference. Successful searches of articles have more than doubled allowing our customers to self-serve when they want; and FAST.As we roll out new support languages, we are careful to ensure cultural distinction. We recognize that one method for helping a customer in English will not be expressed the same way in Korean. Moreover measures of success are different. Our content is created and managed solely by native speakers to allow for global standards and a stellar customer experience. Now live in two languages, serving the world, and seven languages in the pipeline, Success Central will continue to evolve and grow helping learners around the world to be successful in their language learning.
Kirkland’s Finders Keepers CampaignExecutive SummaryKirkland’s is a leading retailer of home décor, accessories and gifts. In April 2009, we launched an online community, www.MyKirklands.com, to engage Kirkland’s customers and create two-way conversations that centered around their interest in home décor. While the community launch was a success, we knew that it would be a challenge to keep community members engaged and active on MyKirklands.com. Our team of Kirkland’s interior designers share decorating tips online, but we still needed to provide additional content to keep members returning to the site and motivate them to shop at Kirkland’s. Our solution was to create short-term promotions that intersect with the wants and needs of our community members in ways that are familiar but have a slightly unexpected twist. The Finders Keepers game allowed us to share new product information, test the effectiveness of various coupon offers, grow our MyKirklands.com community and email database, and motivate members to shop at Kirkland’s with a coupon incentive – all while encouraging interaction on MyKirklands.com.The Finders Keepers promotion centered around the familiar “I Spy” game with a little bit of a twist. During each day of the 10-day sweepstakes period, a new item would appear in a room full of Kirkland’s merchandise. After viewing the room and a short video in which one of the MyKirklands.com designers shared decorating tips, MyKirklands.com members were offered the opportunity to guess which item in the room was new. All correct guesses were entered into a daily drawing to win the featured item of the day and were entered into a sweepstakes to win all of the Kirkland’s merchandise displayed in the room. Entrants who also shared on Facebook received an additional entry for the daily drawing and the grand prize sweepstakes, as well as a mystery coupon that was different each day. Those who entered an incorrect guess could share on Facebook to receive a mystery coupon and a chance to submit another guess to be entered into the daily drawing and grand prize sweepstakes.The mystery coupons featured different offers ranging from 10% - 20% off and $5 off to $15 off. A different coupon was offered each day. We tracked the number of coupons downloaded and redeemed in order to identify the most effective coupons for increasing store traffic and purchases. This information will be valuable in planning future promotions.The Finders Keepers promotion was successful in meeting all of our objectives and the ROI on the coupons exceeded expectations. The daily mystery coupons drove overall game participation and encouraged repeat players. The short, 10-day promotion period was successful in bringing customers already in the marketing funnel closer to the brand. The coupon incentive induced entrants to share on Facebook and invite their friends to join MyKirklands.com and play the Finders Keepers game.In just 10 days, the Finders Keepers promotion attracted 54,287 new MyKirklands.com members and resulted in 11,580 net new emails and 134,109 Facebook shares. The total revenue generated from the coupons exceeded expectations for the 10-day period. Objectives• Increase the number of MyKirklands.com members• Encourage member interaction on MyKirklands.com• Grow customer email database• Raise brand awareness of Kirkland’s on Facebook• Increase store traffic with an incentive for community members to shopChallengeOur challenge was to increase store traffic and MyKirklands.com online community members in a way that intersects with the interests and natural web usage patterns of our customers and encourages interaction. Since the MyKirklands.com online community was launched, we’ve learned that our members love two things: games and coupons. We needed to find a solution that would be engaging and measurable while creating a deeper brand experience for Kirkland’s customers. We also wanted to create an opportunity to test various coupon offers to see which ones are most effective at generating in-store sales.StrategyOur strategy was to create a promotion that connected with the interests and needs of our customer in a way that matched their natural media rhythms and increase engagement with MyKirklands.com members. Since we knew MyKirklands.com members enjoy playing games and are motivated to shop by incentives such as coupons, we designed a 10-day promotion based on the familiar “I Spy” game. The game was developed to offer an opportunity to win each day to encourage repeat visits to My Kirklands.com and bring those customers closer to the brand.Tactics• Finders Keepers Sweepstakes: The Finders Keepers Sweepstakes was fashioned around the concept of the popular “I Spy” game, so it was familiar to customers yet had an interesting twist. Our MyKirklands.com design team created a room full of Kirkland’s merchandise and each day a new item was added to the room. • On each day of the 10-day sweepstakes period, MyKirklands.com members could watch a short video and view the room, then guess which item in the room was new. Participants who guessed correctly were entered into the Grand Prize drawing and received a “mystery” coupon. They were also entered into a daily drawing to win the product that had been added to the room that day. • Entrants who submitted the wrong answer could share on Facebook to receive a mystery coupon and an opportunity to enter another guess in the Finders Keepers game. • The mystery coupons were different each day so that we could test various offers for effectiveness at motivating customers to shop and redeem their coupons. The coupon offers ranged from 10% to 20% off and $5 off to $15 off a minimum purchase. • The Grand Prize included all of the Kirkland’s merchandise in the Finders Keepers room – more than 35 items. • There were 10 daily drawing winners of a featured Kirkland’s product and one Grand Prize winner who won all of the items in the room.• Designer Quick Tips and Product Info: We created short videos of the MyKirklands.com interior designers sharing tips about using the featured items as part of a home décor plan. Pop-up windows with product features appeared when users scrolled over the featured Finders Keepers items.ResultsThe short-term nature of the Finders Keepers campaign was successful in bringing customers already in the marketing funnel closer to the brand and the ROI on the coupons exceeded expectations. The daily mystery coupons were successful in driving overall game participation, especially repeat players. Offering a different coupon value each day and tracking how many coupons were downloaded and redeemed allowed us to identify which coupon offers are most effective at motivating customers to shop at Kirkland’s. We were able to use this information to identify our top performing coupon offers. Since Kirkland’s sends a weekly email to their subscribers with a coupon offer, this information about which coupon offers performed best will be invaluable in planning future MyKirklands.com promotions and email campaigns.The Finders Keepers promotion increased the number of members registering on MyKirklands.com by four times over the normal rate of member registrations. In addition, the total revenue generated from the promotional coupons exceeded expectations.This 10-day promotion was so successful that there are already plans to bring the Finders Keepers sweepstakes back to MyKirklands.com every year.Marketing Metrics for the 10-day Finders Keepers Campaign:• New MyKirklands.com members: 54,287• Net new e-mails: 11,580• Facebook shares: 134,109• Redemption rate of 3.41% for the promotional coupons vs. the typical coupon redemption average of 1% to 2%
ChallengeIn January 2011, Virgin Atlantic launched their first TV marketing campaign since 2006. Realizing they needed to reach a wider audience and engage their social media fans, they sought to start a conversation around their fans’ love of travel and fun, as well as create meaningful and tangible offers for their audience. Beyond the standard ad, they wanted a social media campaign that would encourage active participation and conversation, and convey the brand’s personality. With their social marketing approach, they wanted a way for their audience to become part of the story - to add their own personality and interests while having fun with the brand. SolutionTo tap into the power of word of mouth, and connect with their most committed fans and customers, Virgin Atlantic partnered with Wildfire Interactive to launch the “Looking for Linda” campaign. In January 2011, at the start of the six week campaign, Virgin Atlantic introduced their customers to “Linda”, a Virgin Atlantic Flight attendant character, who shared her Virgin Atlantic travels all around the world. Although she only existed two-dimensionally, fans could identify with her bubbly personality and love of travel as she left them clues to her whereabouts. Fans who correctly guessed Linda’s destinations were entered into weekly contests to win tickets to one of Virgin Atlantic’s global destinations, and one lucky fan won two upper class ticket upgrades to a destination of his or her choice.Because Linda had her own Facebook page, fans were able to further engage in a dialogue directly with her, complimenting her on everything from her stylish Virgin Atlantic-issued heels to her choice of travel locations. ResultsThe Wildfire Social Marketing Suite proved to be a simple and powerful way for Virgin Atlantic to achieve their goal of acquiring new Facebook fans while simultaneously engaging with, and rewarding, their existing fanbase. At the end of the six week period, the airline received 15,449 entries into the contest and gained 8,282 likes on their Facebook page!
WHAT: Next Blue Design CompetitionWHY: The first jean ever made by Wrangler was designed by cowboys for cowboys back in 1947 when a rodeo tailor joined the brand and worked with actual rodeo stars to develop a product. That pair of jeans was literally designed by the very men who would eventually be wearing them. The Next Blue design competition invited consumers to design and select a limited-edition collection of blue jeans to be produced and sold.HOW: Participating in the Next Blue design contest merely required a vision. From design school students and fashion fiends to stay-at-home moms and weekend warriors, jean wearers from coast to coast were encouraged to submit ideas. To enter the competition contestants had to create a short yet compelling video explaining a unique jean idea and upload it to the competition site... Following an initial voting round on all entries, five finalists were selected and showcased on the competition site where fans had one week to vote for the final winning design.The Next Blue design competition is both progressive (with the use of user generated content and social media) yet uniquely tied to the brand's legacy (paying close attention to the needs and insights of its consumers).The five selected finalists generated over 15,000 votes in one week. The winning entrant, a current student in Apparel Product Design at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, drew the inspiration for her winning design from nature, incorporating blues and browns to give her jeans a vintage flair. The final product will be produced in both a women's and a men's jean and sold exclusively on Wrangler.com this fall.
How can you nurture your brand advocates to help create and maintain a successful, self-sustaining and growing online Support Community? BlackBerry saw the opportunity to further embrace its Super User base and tap into relationships within both the brand and the community members. By developing a formal Super User program and rewarding them for their efforts, these advocates have truly become the "super glue" that holds the Support Community together.BlackBerry first recognized that there were community members who demonstrated their expertise and passion on various Support channels by reaching out to other users and helping them with their queries. As a result, the brand's first step was to expand their Support Community platform and invite Super Users to the Expert Arena, aprivate, invite-only area. Here, they have direct access to RIM employees and can provide feedback, escalate community issues, or just plain socialize with other like-minded users who are equally dedicated to the community.Furthermore, the key focus of the program was to develop strong one-on-one relationships with the Super Users in order to understand theirindividual needs and what motivates them to actively participate. This enables the BlackBerry team to empower them with the knowledge they need and provide ongoing encouragement for their ongoing contributions and efforts.In order to appeal to a wide audience, the Super User team also promotes a diversity that reflects the customer base, both in backgrounds and interests. These members come from international regions such as Bangladesh and France, as well as the U.S. and Canada. Many discuss their other hobbies such as salsa dancing and weevil research in order to be able to drive deeper engagement within the community and foster honest relationships amongst the members.Another part of the program is dedicated to continually finding ways to reward and delight the Super Users as a "thank you" for their time and efforts. BlackBerry hosts a select group of Super Users at the annual company conference, BlackBerry World, which takes place in Orlando, Florida. There are also quarterly conference calls, an active BlackBerry® Messenger™ (BBM™) group, and Super Users have the Community Manager's personal contact information for any urgent Community matters. They email contacts, phone numbers and our BBM PINs so they canget access to RIM employees just about any time of day.BlackBerry continually engages and maintains a strong relationship with these users. They regularly reach out to them for feedback regarding implementation of new community functions or features, look for thoughts on design aspects and have a board dedicated to offering suggestions for improvement on the general structure of the community. In addition, there is a private board for Super Users to report out-of-date content on our sites and escalate any unresolved issues to our Social Media Support team for review.The ResultMany Super Users have spent over 20 hours a week participating in our Community and their individual post counts range from 500 to more than 35,000 posts, which is a significant contribution to the Support Community and enables the platform to remain self-sustaining.On average, they spend approximately 900 hours a month on the Community addressing technical issues for users and by extension, saving the user from contacting their carrier or reaching out to the company for support.In addition, having this group of advocates who are so passionate about BlackBerry products and services assists the organization in spreading a positive sentiment around the BlackBerry brand. These users are supporting the community but are also active users of other social media channels and regularly help to circulate valuable content and promote the Community to their networks. The reward for them is simple - they feel like they're a part of something they love, as indicated by a comment from one particular Super User:"Through this forum I have met people from every spot on the globe. They have given me the priceless opportunity to learn about customs and cultures I could never have otherwise experienced. I am honored to have formed close friendships and share personal experiences with people I have would have never have had the pleasure of meeting outside of this forum. I joined this forum to learn about my Blackberry Curve. In retrospect of all I have gained here the technical knowledge I was looking for is actually a bonus. Happy Birthday BSC!"The NumbersOver 40 Super Users within the Support CommunityMore than 140,000 ‘Top Ten’ posts by Super Users within the Community discussion boardsAlmost 20,000 posts by Super Users in the Expert Arena10,000+ Accepted Solutions authored by Super Users